Tag: United States

Everyday Water

Everyday Water
by Link

When you think of “Water” what comes to mind? A tranquil lake, gentle rain, or raging sea? Whether magical element or just a simple cup of tea, water can be a very special part of your life.

Water Spirits

Every body of water is an entity. Each lake, puddle or pool has a unique life-force all its own. It can be as vast as the sea, or as small as a two-sip potion bottle – any body of water has a personality just a little bit different than any other. Can you feel the personality of your bath? Can you feel a certain comfort within a place where you swim regularly? Try to sense what makes each body of water different than another.

Water at Home

A home is a very special place. It holds all the elements, and surely combines them into spirit. Water is an integral part of your home, like any ecosystem. The bathroom, the kitchen, the plumbing surely are temples for your own home’s personal aspect of water. When you visit the home of a new friend, make an effort to drink their tap water to take in a bit of the unique personality of that place. It may help you get a better feel for where you are, and all that resides there. Perhaps it is no accident that one of the first things someone offers a guest is something to drink. This concept is not limited to someone’s home. Going on a sales call or job interview? Grab a quick drink when you get there!

Healing Waters

Water is used in a variety of healing rites. Most magical people are quite aware of healing energies in teas, brews and baths. Next time you use one of these devices, try specifically addressing the water aspect within your magic. People often focus on the herbs used in their potions. But don’t forget the water spirits within your hot cup of tea that washes these herbs into your steamy Circle. Magic is often the chemistry of mixing things, thus mixing the energies they possess. Together, water and herbs make something very special, more so than either could do alone. Employ the water you drink to help swallow an aspirin; see the “liquid” in your cough syrup. Most over the counter drugs come in both liquid and tablet form. Perhaps this choice can help fit your magical need? When might a liquid work better than a solid, or vice versa?

Water Divination

Some people scry as a means to foretell the future or answer questions. Scrying is the act of gazing meditatively into a shiny nebulous surface, like a crystal ball. Fill your cauldron with water and see what shimmers on its surface — whether by moonlight, candelight or just bathroom nightlight. Oh, you don’t own a $200 cast iron genuine witchy cauldron to fill? Try any household vessel, perhaps one that fits your specific need. For example, if you seek financial guidance, try using the jar you store your loose change in. A new beginning? How about your morning coffee cup. Love? Perhaps a vase you might use for a dozen red roses.

For divination, you may want to try saving water to re-use over and over again each time you scry. Perhaps this water, just like you, will become more adept at scrying with practice! You might experiment with the specific type of water you want to use. When might water from the ocean work best? The rain or morning dew? Try collecting waters from the special places in your life, the stream where you picnic, the lake where you camp. Use your creativity here. Is there enough room in your freezer for a chunk of the first snowfall?

Another form of water divination might be to merely spill it on a flat surface. Which way did it run? Towards a specific direction? What does this direction mean to you? Try dropping something magical into a pool of water and count the ripples it makes. Four? Five? Do you find meaning in this number? Water is a very flexible thing. What new ways can you create to divine with water?

Your Own Waters

Perhaps the water we are closest to, but notice the least, is the water within our own bodies. Each of us carries around gallons that we borrow from our surroundings via the moisture within food and drink. We store it for hours, days, maybe even weeks, and carry it around like a little magical charm. Remember this the next time you share a drink during a special moment. A bit of that moment stays with you within the water you drank. Magical people instinctively feel the magic within their own waters. Ever notice how some people put a little something extra into licking and sealing a special envelope? It becomes a magical act!

Matter can be charged with your own personal energy, like the way a chair becomes warm when you sit on it. Water is especially receptive to storing energy. What energies does water hold within your body? Note that just about every emotion is expressed with water. Our water enables release, catharsis, getting it out of our system – whether tears of joy, a nervous sweat, or acts of love and pleasure. When we get too sad, too happy, too excited – water is what we often cast forth.

When you drink in water, take in what you need from the world. Ask for new things, new benefits, new wisdom and experiences. Just drink them all in like making a toast! And when you expel water, casting it out of your body, think what you’d like to cast out into life’s magical currents. Taking in, then sending out. What could be more magical than that?

The West

One popular belief assigns each element to a direction, with water corresponding to the west. My guess is that this began in England where the ocean actually is in the west, where the storms blew in from, thus fitting the geography and beliefs of the people who created the system. When members of the modern Craft community came to America, they continued the custom of looking to the west for water, even though the nature and geography around them was actually quite different. Water is one example of the choice whether to follow tradition, or modify our customs to fit the unique situations around us. I live on the east coast of North America, where the Atlantic Ocean is only 60 miles to the east. Yet most people I know turn their back and face west for water. Experiment with what direction feels most like water; try sensing what works best for you. You may find that the direction really doesn’t matter much. Someone I consider quite wise once reminded me that “water is where you feel it.”

The Water Cycle

Can we learn from the cycle of Earth’s water supply? Water vapor rises from the ocean, crystallizes to form a raindrop, falls to the Earth, runs its course through life’s rivers and streams, returning to the ocean, its source, to vaporize once again, perpetuating water’s cycle. Are we any different? Even today, Pagans sing about a drop of rain flowing to the ocean, returning to its source, the source of all life. This song even tells where we come from, and reminds us that we shall return. Think about the words. (Z. Budapest; 1971, Spring Hill Music.)

Look at the branching shape each tiny stream has as it feeds a larger brook, which then feeds a mighty river. Now look at the veins in your own arm. Perhaps it is the nature of small things to flow together, forming something larger. What other parts of life work the same way? What small things flow into you? And what do you join with to form something greater?

Like us, water also has many lives. The same H20 molecule that sits upon your sweaty brow today may have once been a teardrop in a lover’s eye or raindrop in a raging storm. It may even have once been part of an icy comet that hurled to Earth ions ago after whirling round the galaxy.

Water Magic

Perhaps the most common water magic is washing away something unwanted; we wash things to cleanse. Often the physical act of washing can have a magical component as well. When you shower, do you sometimes wash away more than just the grime of the day, making your stress-relieving shower a magical act? Have you ever rinsed out a glass or piece of clothing for a special occasion, and visualized the desired outcome of that occasion? When I wash my car, I pray for safe travel. (From the bathroom, the bedroom, and even the garage — Kitchen Witchery exists in every room of the house!)

I know someone who has slept on the same waterbed for a decade. This person respects (and actually talks to) the water within this bed as something sacred, like a magical familiar. Why not? Just imagine the energies this water holds. It becomes warmed by your body heat, hears a decade worth of dreams and passion. It provides the bliss of restful sleep. No other body of water can ever be that intimate.

Like anything magical, water is multi-dimensional. Make a list of properties you associate with water. Which aspect fits your magical need? Not only does water wash, but it nourishes and helps things grow. (Perhaps it is no accident that our first meal of Mother’s milk comes in liquid form.) Water is the place where life started, creating a new beginning for primordial Earth. What new beginnings do you yearn for? Water is the ink in your pen, the wine in your clinking glass. It freezes solid, yet steams away into vapor. Water makes ripply splashy noises, and swirls round and round into spiral whirlpools. Forget what you heard when you were nine years old – please do play with water!

Link
6538 Collins Avenue # 211
Miami Beach, FL 33141
AnthLink@aol.com

Everyday Earth

Everyday Earth
by Link

When you think of “Earth” what comes to mind? Perhaps you feel the stable element of solidity and grounding. Or maybe you see Earth as the third planet from the Sun. Or for you, is Earth the rich brown soil in your own backyard? Earth is all these things and more. (One of the great things about “poly” theism is the ability to look at many aspects of an idea.) We often see Earth in vague macro terms, but we should not ignore the simple parts of everyday Earth that we see and touch each day. You may find that all these different sides of Earth – the element, the planet and the everyday things around us — all fit together like a beautiful mosaic.

 

Earth as an Element

Earth is a term we use to describe one of four very basic forces in nature. We call these basic forces “elements” since they are the building blocks that make up just about everything around us. (Think about it — you learned the basics in “Elementary School.”) While Earth is a very personal thing for each of us, it is usually thought of as being very stable. Tangible. Steady. Someone who might wish to maintain status quo or slow down change in their life might think of the element of Earth. Earth might also be used to strengthen something, making it solid as a rock. Think of the three states of matter: solid, liquid and gas. While watery liquids may slip through your fingers; airy gas might float beyond reach, but something solid is easy to grasp. Earth can be the malkuth of tangible actions, where the rubber meets the road in deed not just words or thought. For example, if you wanted to use the element of Earth to build a museum, you might take physical, tangible action — actually lay the brick – rather than merely signing a petition or dreaming about a plan. See the difference? Fire sparks the idea; air thinks about how to do it; water greases the wheels – but Earth actually makes it take real form.

Elements are rarely pure. For example, our own bodies are solid, but also mixed with fluids, combined with both the breath and spark of life in order to survive. We are a mix. What role does Earth play in your own body? How is this like other parts of nature? Can understanding your body teach you about other parts of life, like how the trees grow together or how rivers flow?

Elements are not stand-alone concepts; they combine and react with one another. In the early 1500s Agrippa wrote that elements can be transformed into one another, like the way salt dissolves in water or a wooden log burns away. Can we apply this principle to magically transform our own situation? Are there obstacles in your own life you’d like to dissolve? Are there problems you’d like to just burn away? Is there something flowing past you so quickly you wish you could freeze it still – just for a moment? Perhaps elemental magic works no differently than the things we see around us every day. See this transformation as you strive to change a few extra pounds into a few extra push-ups. Feel it as the warmth within your own heart melts away even the coldest barriers between you and someone you love.

People react and combine just like Earth, Air, Fire and Water. You may even find that we pass through elemental phases as we grow up along life’s path. This may help you better understand why some people are blown from place to place with the wind until they mature, become more rooted and stable in their ways. Can you see the elements in your everyday interactions with people? Can this help you understand what makes people tick?

Some magical systems look at the elements in a hierarchy, where we are their master and they are our magical servants. I disagree. To me, elements are aspects of Deity. My own personal view of the Divine is the sum total of everything – all the piece-parts – past, present and future. To me, this makes Earth, Air, Fire and Water aspects of the Goddess and God. Next time you are in ritual, notice whether people greet the elements with reverence, or command them in booming voices, like calling a pet from the yard. How do you see the elements? How does Earth differ from the others?

We use symbols for Earth in a variety of magical tools. In the Tarot, the suit of Pentacles or Coins represents Earth. While both Pentacles and Coins are round circular objects that might symbolize the Earth merely in shape, lets look further. A Pentacle is an interesting choice, since the five-pointed star is often described as symbolic of all four elements, plus a fifth – Spirit. This is a wonderful description of the diverse Earth, since our world’s land, sea, air and flame contain all of these forces!

The Tarot’s use of Coins as a symbol of Earth may date back to agricultural times, where wealth and abundance came via the harvest as financial support for the village. A simpler idea is the Rune symbol Fehu, which also is a symbol of abundance, and comes from the same root as the word “fee.” Some might say Fehu’s F-shape represents the horns on a head of cattle. Cattle as a symbol of Earth? Just look to the Zodiac, where the fixed Earth sign is Taurus the Bull! If you were creating your own symbol for Earth today, what would it be?

In ritual, we often associate directions with elements. For many, Earth is North. Why? My guess is that elemental directions probably fit the geography and beliefs of the people who made the system up. These people looked around and developed a system that felt right. (And ever since, other people have merely followed this tradition, repeating what they were taught.) To me, in my own geography and beliefs, I live on the east coast of North America. When I look to the West, I see 3,000 miles of continental land. Guess which direction I associate with Earth? The point is, you don’t have to use any direction just because you are taught that way. There may be times when Earth feels like facing the place you consider home, or facing the Rocky Mountains, or maybe facing that big ol’ Oak tree you’ve always loved. What works best for you? To paraphrase the Japanese philosopher-poet Basho, (1644-1694) “Seek not to follow in your elders’ footsteps. Instead, seek what they sought.” You may one day feel that it really doesn’t matter which direction is which.

Likewise, in ritual we often assign colors to the elements: Green for Earth, green like things that grow! Perhaps you see Earth as a different color? Brown like the soil, or yellow like the daffodils, or sea-blue like the way Earth would look from space? Our planet is a very colorful place; feel free to use whatever hue best suits your magical palette! (Remember this the next time your favorite nine-year old artist colors a purple horse.)

 

Earth as a Planet

We sprang from this planet and are nourished by it, so we use a maternal analogy and call Her “Mother Earth.” Every bit of food we eat, every drop of water we drink, every breath we take – and all we leave behind – are parts of Earth’s ecosystem. As a planet, the Earth is also a grand elemental mix. Our world contains not just “solid” Earth, but the blue oceans, rivers and streams. Besides solid and liquid, Earth also holds fiery volcanoes, fierce and virile, building great pressure over time until they cannot be contained. They erupt suddenly, shooting their molten streams of lava and fire…and then settle down to rest. A wise friend once reminded me that as a planet, Earth constantly moves and flows. Its fault-lines naturally quake; its winds naturally whirl and storm with great motion. Like any living breathing being, the Earth by no means is stationary.

When thinking about the Earth, don’t limit yourself to seeing just the sphere. Remember to include its gaseous aura, the Earth’s atmosphere, which surrounds our planet. Just like you have an aura glowing around you, the Earth wears a gaseous cloak around itself. What can we learn from this? Perhaps it is the nature of things to have a primary object in the middle surrounded by a sort of ethereal glow. Remember this the next time an aroma from your fresh-baked apple pie fills your entire home. Things often stretch out beyond their shell.

“Atmosphere” is not limited to airy things. It can be anything that glows, like the warmth of a campfire felt by the people that orbit around its flame. Even the visible light that things reflect is a type of glow. Because of the visible light reflected, I can see the mountain-tops for miles! (Now that’s atmosphere!) The physical object sits where it sits, but its glow shines out much farther. What “glow” do you project? What glow can you sense from others and from your surroundings?

In addition to its gaseous atmosphere, the Earth wears an electrical cloak as well, called the “magnetosphere.” This electromagnetic field is generated by the Earth’s two-fold core. The outer core is liquid, made of molten iron and nickel. But due to immense pressure, the inner core is solid. As the liquid swirls around the solid core, it generates a magnetic charge creating Earth’s electrical aura. This too is quite dynamic. Even the magnetic North Pole is not a single fixed point, according to the Canadian Government’s Commission Geologique, but rather the pole moves up to 15 kilometers each year!

An aura, an outer crust, a mid-layer mantle, inner liquids, and a solid core… Perhaps Earth shows us that the nature of things often comes in layers. Does this sound like anything else? An egg? An orange? Perhaps a city with a busy downtown, surrounded by the suburbs and rural countryside? Do the Earth’s layers resemble your own body — complete with your magnetic aura, your aromatic aires, an outer skin (upon which your furry forest might grow), a warm fleshy middle, with a solid core right down to the bone? What else comes in layers? Getting to know someone? Understanding complex concepts? Looking at one thing in nature can remind us that other things often work the same way.

Our own bodies have chakras or special energy centers. Does the Earth? Perhaps our world has special sites that buzz like chakras. Can that explain why we feel some places are high-energy? The poles? The Rain Forest? Sedona? Mount Everest? The shore? I have often wondered if there is a connection between the fact that the same small patch of desert in the mid-east that gave birth to many of the major religions (i.e. Christianity, Islam, Judaism) is the same place where we get the majority of our energy from fuel oil.

What chakras can you see in your own personal surroundings? Is there a focal point within your community? Does your own home have certain unique energy points? In the kitchen, bedroom, or nursery — perhaps the “altars” we use most often are not the ones with statues and chalices upon them. Magic happens most often in very everyday places!

What else can we learn by looking at planet Earth? Our home is the third planet in a system of nine worlds. (And you wonder why things often come in threes?) All these worlds orbit the Sun; most have their own moons also in orbit. Perhaps it is the nature of small things to orbit around greater things. If so, this can help us understand a great many parts of life where small things circle around larger ones — from education, to economics, to group dynamics, and even religion. What great things do you orbit around? And what revolves around you?

If planet Earth has a Spirit, do the other planets have Spirit too? If so, how do they interact with the Earth, and with us? What chemistry exists within this pantheon of planets circling the same Sun? Perhaps the chemistry between planets is one way to view the influence of astrology.

In the children’s book “Planet Earth” (Martyn Bramwell, Franklin Watts Publishing, 1987, New York) the chapter on our solar system is entitled “The Sun and its Family.” Children’s books often make valid points in the simplest terms and may be the most magical books you will ever read! You are part of your family, and your family is part of society as a whole. Likewise our solar system is one of many in this galaxy, one of many galaxies in a very vast universe. And we — you and me — are part of it all! Each of us is connected to this grand whole, like the way your little finger is connected to your arm and your arm is connected to your whole body. It’s a part of you. And likewise, you are a part of the vast “Family of All Things.” Seeing this might offer comfort in times where you feel isolated, alone and cut-off.

Don’t be scared by the vastness of “all things.” You don’t have to think about it all at once. Start by noticing that familiar feeling you have when you sleep in our own comfortable bed. Know what I mean? It just feels like home, a part of you. Try looking at how you feel connected to sentimental objects, old jewelry, keep-sakes, photos or whatever items you consider most sacred and magical. If you are connected to these items, can you feel some way you are connected to other things too? All parts of this Earth are linked to you — every branch, every leaf, every ant upon the hill.

All things are alive. Talk to your house, your yard, your car, your dinner — and listen just in case they talk back! Try it with not just your own sentimental items, but with strangers you encounter along your path, new places, new things. If you can find a connection to all things in some way, nothing is beyond your reach! You already have a link to every goal, every dream, every person, place and thing you could ever imagine. Use it.

We often say that modern-day culture has forgotten its connection to the Earth. If that is true, then such a culture will certainly feel disconnected from the cosmos! But over time, things are changing. Our culture is shifting to seek harmony with nature. More and more each year, people are drawn to things that help reconnect them to the Earth, such as today’s Paganism and other forms of Earth Spirituality. Other reconnections might be as subtle as popular trends towards natural food. Think about it. What makes you feel more connected to the Earth – a fresh crispy carrot from your garden, or a polysorbate-hydrogenated-yellow # 3 cheese-flavored doodle from a plastic bag?

Since we all spring from the Earth, perhaps it is no accident that the Old ways are making a come-back now – when the Earth’s ecosystem is under attack. Living things often change to seek balance, to adapt. We sweat to cool ourselves down; we shiver to warm ourselves up. Does the Earth do the same? If so, can these changes explain why society changes over time? If we are of this Earth, perhaps we go through seasons of change no different than the leaves on the tree. If you believe in an Earth Religion, how has this spiritual path influenced the way you treat the world? Its living creatures? Its natural surroundings? Do you see recycling as a religious act? Conserving? Voting? If so, why? How are your own everyday actions – your job, your homelife, your love for others – part of the Earth?

Perhaps social trends are part of Earth’s own metabolism, rising and falling within the Earth’s own cycles. If so, our wish to care for the environment might be like Earth’s antibodies fighting the disease of pollution. Perhaps culture reflects the Earth’s cycle between creative periods, followed by destructive ones, creatively renewed again over time. Why not? This isn’t far off from other cycles. If you see society linked to Earth’s own cycles, does this give you a new perspective on history — including both our shining accomplishments as well as our darkest misfortunes? Can it help us understand cultural beliefs that might differ from our own? All people — whether naughty or nice — are Children of the Earth. If social trends are part of Earth’s cycles, we might even use history to predict where we as a people are headed! Look back over the last thousand years. What parts of history speak to you? Where do you think we will be in five years? Twenty? A hundred? What signs make you feel this way?

 

Earth in Your Everyday Life

Revering the Earth, in all its forms, is not limited to your religious practice. All parts of your life can be sacred and magical! The Earth is your breakfast, your back yard, your neighbors. Is there anything you might touch that is not part of the Earth?

We are most familiar with the parts of the Earth closest to us. See the Earth in your own “village” and even in the patch of ground upon which your home is built. When you eat from your garden, you take in a bit of the specific land upon which you reside. If you don’t have a garden, you can still enjoy locally grown produce. Where I live, we pride ourselves on local corn and tomatoes! What does your region have to offer? Is your bay filled with fresh crabs? Do you live near where steers are raised, or maybe where the salmon swim? Experiment with the geography in foods. Get to know your local delicacies, but also reach out across the globe. We live in an age where we can sip Italian Chianti squeezed from grapes grown on the same land where Leonardo Da Vinci dreamt of great flying machines or where Michelangelo chiseled great works of art. We can enjoy Earth’s olives picked not far from the ancient Greek temples of Aphrodite. We can pour rich dark ale brewed on the same isle as Stonehenge. Near or far, Earth is a wonderful place!

Gnomes, faeries, elves et al. We have age-old tales of Earthly spirits inhabiting the woodlands. While I do not believe in little green men, nor winged Tinkerbells – I do feel the Dear Ones that bring a wooded place to life. During a recent walk in the woods, someone dear to me shared her own definition of Earth Spirits. She explained to me that the forest is made up of unique individual beings – each tree, each flower – is as unique a life as I am. I often forget that individual Spirits reside in the very place we spread our picnic blanket. I often forget that the wooden beams in my living room, or even my kitchen table, once came from something alive, a specific tree, one that may have even had a name given to it by local tree-climbing kiddies at play.

And like we have our own by-gone ancestors, each tree and flower sprang from its own individual set of genetic parents, and grandparents, and so on… We live and walk upon the brown Earthy humus of past life forms. Perhaps it is no accident that the word humus, the rich outer layer of soil where plants grow and later decompose, comes from the same Indo-European root as the words human and humility. This reminds us that we too are of the humus.

Earth can be found in the language we use everyday. Next time you hear the phrase “down to Earth” think about the words and what they mean. Other languages are just as Earthy as our own. For example, in Holland the Dutch use the term Aard Appel to describe a potato. This term literally means “Earth Apple.”

The Old English/Germanic word Earth is unique since it is the only planet not named after a Greek or Roman Deity. Brian Swimme and Thomas Berry, authors of “The Universe Story” (Harper, 1992, San Francisco) marvel at the idea of naming planets after Deities since the creation and actions of planets are still quite a mystery to science! But our planet has many names. The Norwegians call it Jorda; the Finns call it Maa. (Ma? How maternal can you get!) In Russian, Earth is Zemlja; in Latin it is Terra. Since Latin is familiar to us, we can see that words like territory, terrace and terrain all have Earthy roots. But so does the word terrier, which describes a dog prone to digging holes! Even the word mundane is rooted in the Latin word mundus, the world. (See, mundane things really are magical after all!)

The Hopi Indians wrote a song called “The Earth is Our Mother, We Must Take Care of Her.” An interesting concept! In what specific way did the “Earth” give birth to you? In my case, Mother Earth is a kind-hearted woman with lovely green eyes, who met my Father in a small-town roller skating rink. This particular aspect of Mother Earth bore two girls and two boys; I am the youngest. If you revere the Earth as your Mother, can you revere your own Mother as the Earth? As the Hopi say, we must take care of her.

How else can Earth be seen in everyday terms? We often ritualize a form of libation, where we might reverently spill a sip from the chalice onto the ground, or maybe return a morsel of food back to the Earth. What if we did that not just in Circle, but on other occasions? Next Thanksgiving, pass a small plate around the table and ask each person to contribute a taste from their own dish. Take your collection and place it outside in the yard. Any meal can become a ritual, whether a simple crumble from your lunch-bag sandwich, or a romantic gesture during a candle-lit dinner for two.

 

Conclusion

Earth, like most broad Spiritual concepts, can have many meanings. So do Air, Fire, Water – or just about anything else you might see as magical and sacred. Try to step back a bit from traditional teachings and cultural norms. (You may find that a mosaic becomes a bit clearer when viewed from a distance.) Look at things from a variety of angles. Look for how these magical forces manifest in very simple ways within your own surroundings. Often we draw the boundary between magical and mundane; nature does not.

Link
6538 Collins Avenue # 255
Miami Beach, FL 33141
AnthLink@aol.com

The Sacred Household: Rites and Mysteries

The Sacred Household: Rites and Mysteries

Author: Ian Elliott
To Joseph Brazauskas, a true pagan

The Threshold

The sacred household in ancient and more recent indigenous cultures bears certain analogies to the human body. The front door is similar to the eyes, the hearth to the heart or solar plexus, and the central supporting pillar to the spine. Shrines or altars at these locations were guarded by spirits who were linked with internal spirits in each family resident, and the proper worship of the household guardians involved being on familiar terms with their inner analogues and tending their inner shrines.

This study of the sacred household uses the names of Roman household spirits, but it is based more broadly on a number of other cultures. We no longer live in Roman houses, so some latitude must be taken in locating household shrines; and we are not all of Roman descent, so some attention must be paid to the forms of piety practiced by our ancestors from other lands.

It is not enough to study household rites and set up modern versions of ancient shrines. Our early conditioning separates us from some pre-verbal modes of awareness, by teaching us to ignore certain readily available perceptions; these must be recovered if we are to properly install our internal shrines and so link them with those of the household. I have called practices that open up these perceptions ‘mysteries, ’ because having been forgotten they have become secret things.

The Roman god of the threshold was Janus, who has two faces, one looking outside and the other inside the home, as well as forward and backward in time. To enter a house, as H.J. Rose pointed out in Religion in Greece and Rome, is to begin something, and so household piety always began by honoring Janus at the threshold. His annual festival was on January 9th, and offerings at his shrine were made on the Calends (the day after the dark moon of the lunar calendar) , as well at the beginning of any endeavor, such as a journey; also on one’s birthday.

The Romans, even after they came under Greek influence, were by preference an aniconic people; that is, they preferred worship without images. Perhaps this was because they focused on the link between the inner and outer shrines and found external images a distraction. I keep my own threshold shrine simple, hanging a god-face about a foot and a half above a small offering shelf, the shelf set next to the front door a little above eye-level. On the shelf is a candle, a stick incense holder, toy-sized dishes for water and salted grain.

Upon crossing the threshold one always steps over it, never on it, and one should touch the doorpost as an acknowledgement of the threshold guardian and to receive his numen. We can tentatively define numen as liberating and empowering energy that is unknown or at least unfamiliar.

My prayer when offering to Janus is the same as the one I used when setting up his shrine:

Honor and thanks to you, O Janus,
for guarding the threshold of my home.
May only harmonious beings enter here,
and may the discordant depart!
Please accept these offerings of salted grain, water, light and scent,
Open this week [month, journey, etc.] for me on blessings,
and teach me to look out and in at once as you do,
so I may guard the threshold of my inner home;
for I, too, am a threshold guardian.

The god-face for Janus looks straight in, as I prefer to imagine his head imbedded in the wall, with his outer face guarding the outside of my doorway.

The Inner Threshold

This ability to look out and in at the same time holds the clue to Janus’ mysteries, to the pre-verbal mode of perception that will give us the ability to look in the same manner, outward and inward simultaneously. To do this we must ‘stand in the doorway, ’ and Douglas Harding provided the best description of this in his important little book On Having No Head. Harding was hiking in the Himalayas and one morning he suddenly saw the world differently:

“…I stopped thinking…Past and future dropped away. There existed only the Now, that present moment and all that was given in it. To look was enough. And what I found was khaki trouserlegs terminating downwards in a pair of brown shoes, khaki sleeves terminating sideways in a pair of pink hands, and a khaki shirtfront terminating upwards in – absolutely nothing whatever! Certainly not in a head.”

This nothing, however, was filled with everything: mountains, sky, valleys below, extending to the horizon. Harding felt light and liberated. He had ceased to ignore the sensations of his own headlessness, ending a habit acquired in infancy when told that ‘the baby in the mirror’ was merely his own reflection. In addition to his headlessness, he was now attending to the limits of his perceptual field. Consequently, he wasn’t tracking on this or that object, as we spend so much of our time doing, using our eyes as searchlights for our impulses and desires. Instead, he was looking at his whole visual field at once, and the lightness he felt resulted from dropping the burden of his eyes from incessant tracking, and of his mind from incessant thinking.

Indigenous peoples are aware of the difference between these two ways of looking at the world. When the psychologist C. G. Jung visited an Indian pueblo in the American Southwest years ago, he had a conversation with the local chief, Ochwiay Biano (his name means Mountain Lake) .

“The white man’s eyes are always restless, ” the chief told Jung. “He is always looking for something. We think he is mad.”
Jung asked him why they thought that.
“He says that he thinks with his head.”
“Why of course, ” answered Jung. “What do you think with?”
“We think here, ” he answered, indicating his chest.

There are two potential errors in assessing what Ochwiay Biano said. One is to take his words sentimentally, as if he were merely speaking of ‘heartfelt thinking.’ The other error would be to dismiss his words as expressions of a primitive, pre-scientific physiology. The Pueblo chief would not have been troubled to learn that Western science has determined through experiments that we think with our brains. This would have seemed to him irrelevant to what he was talking about, namely the sensation of where the thinker seems to be located in the body. We feel we are located in our heads because of certain muscular tensions around the eyes from tracking, and in our foreheads from ‘knitting our brows, ’ and performing other social cues indicative of taking thought. But these external muscular contractions, though spatially closer to the brain, are nevertheless external to it and involve muscles on the outside of the head. The feeling we get from them of being ‘in our heads, ’ therefore, is no more scientific than the feeling the Pueblo chief evidently got of being in his chest.

When we look at our headlessness, our chests come into view as the closest part of the body that is completely visible; and when mental talk quiets down as a result of tracking being replaced by restful awareness of the whole available visual field, words are employed only as and when necessary for external communication. The rest of the time one simply looks, listens and understands, and this quieter form of awareness allows feelings to come to the fore since they are no longer drowned out by incessant mental chatter. For these reasons, Ochwiay Biano felt that he thought in his chest, or solar plexus.

The Hearth

The ancients associated this part of the body, including the heart, with the hearth, and regarded it as the seat of memory. The hearth was the center of the home as well as the place of contact with ancestors. It was the place where the family gathered and traded experiences of the day, recalling in the process the words and deeds of the past. Without memory there is no family, even if the people living together are all related, as we know now that the hearth has been replaced by the television or computer as the central focus of the house, especially if meals are taken individually in the living room.

In the old days, the hearth gave heat and light to the home and was also where food was cooked. Nowadays some are fortunate enough to own a house with a fireplace, but they usually have a stove as well, so that the functions of the ancient hearth have become divided, and it is difficult to decide where to place the hearth shrine.

I have no fireplace where I live now, so my hearth shrine is near my stove. My stove is electric, but I keep a large candle in the shrine and light that, together with stick incense, when I want to awaken the hearth guardian. Additionally, I keep there somewhat larger versions of the offering dishes described above for the threshold shrine.

The hearth guardian is both a goddess and the hearth fire itself. In ancient Latium she was called Vesta. She accepts offerings for herself and also passes on some of them to the ancestors, godlings and blessed immortals. Because I cannot maintain a perpetual flame, I have a picture of her in my shrine, and close to her picture is a statuette of my family lar. The lar familiaris is an ithyphallic youth pouring wine from a wineskin into a chalice. He symbolizes the vigor and luck of my family line, and as such forms a link back to the ancestors, and onward to posterity. If I want to honor and pray to another deity, I can conveniently place his or her statue in the shrine for the occasion. This saves on shrines.

At the shrine or close by are photos of my parents and maternal grandmother. These are the ancestors who were my caregivers when I was small, and with whom I still share a bond of love. The Romans and other ancient peoples represented their ancestors by small clay figurines on the altar, as seen in some recent films.

When my offerings are laid out, I light the candle saying “Honor to fire, honor to Vesta, honor to the hearth.” Then I light the incense. Then I pray: “Holy Lady, please accept these offerings of salted grain and pure water, light and scent for thine own dear self, and pass on some to the lares and penates, the di manes, daimones and blessed gods, thanking them for their good regard for me and my family, and asking for a continuance of their favor.” To this basic prayer I add anything special for other deities.

While the fire is lit in the shrine, I call on my ancestors and talk to them. I let them know how things are going in the family with me, my sons and grandson, our concerns, blessings, problems and plans, just as I would if they were still in the flesh. If any of them has appeared recently in a dream, I thank him or her for the visit.

At the close of the rite, I bid farewell to ancestors and deities and extinguish the candle, letting the incense burn down. I say the opening prayer in reverse order, ending with “Honor to the hearth, honor to Vesta, honor to fire.” In Roman houses the hearth shrine was decorated with fresh flowers and offerings made at least three times in the lunar month: on the Calends, that is, the day after the dark moon; on the Nones, the ninth day before the full moon; and on the Ides or full moon itself. In Caesar’s solar calendar the Ides was regularized as the fifteenth of each month, which would place the Nones on the seventh.

The Inner Hearth

When we practice ‘standing in the doorway, ’ we naturally do not do so all the time, and this provides us with a contrast between the two modes of experience, so that we begin noticing things that were formerly invisible to us because they were constant. Some of these things are external to our minds, such as shadows and clouds, and some are internal. One of the internal things is the synopsis or background summary we take to experience, the mental account we refer to offhand when answering the common question “How is it going?” The synopsis is more readily observed in dreams, because it is different for each dream-story or sequence, whereas in waking life it is ongoing and only changes gradually except in moments of crisis.

When we enter a dream-story we generally enter in the middle of it, provided with a ready-made background that tells us where we are and what we are supposed to be doing. We are provided with dream-memories, sometimes selected from previous dreams (as in recurring dreams) , and unless we become aware we are dreaming, we do not question it or the actions of other dream-figures.

Similarly, in waking life we are generally absorbed by the problems and affairs of the moment, as supplied by an ongoing mental summary or synopsis. From this we derive our sense of who we are in the present and what we need to do. The synopsis is based on a selection of memories, and these change gradually unless we are in the throes of a crisis, in which case we need to revise our orientation, sometimes on the basis of earlier memories, in order to cope with the situation. At times our synopsis can become so obsessive that we throw it over in a breakdown and temporarily become disoriented.

Standing in the doorway provides a milder sort of disorientation, as the contrast between it and our usual awareness brings the operation of the synopsis to the forefront of attention. Then, as in the onset of lucid dreaming (when we suddenly realize we are dreaming) , we become free to question who we are supposed to be and what we are supposed to be doing in the present moment. The process of interpreting present experience in terms of our usual selection of memories is suspended, and earlier memories are able to surface, bringing with them earlier feelings of ourselves and of life, derived from past synopses. This is a familiar experience when we go on a trip, especially if we visit old neighborhoods we haven’t seen in many years, and perhaps explains why we like to take such trips after surmounting a difficult crisis.

Vesta’s power to call up the ancestors from old memories works in a similar way, and when our focus of awareness has moved to the chest or solar plexus, continual standing in the doorway can help her to perform the same feat for us at our inner hearth, especially if we augment our headless attention with another pre-verbal mode of awareness involving sound.

The first stage is to listen to all the sounds around us, without dividing them into ‘background’ and ‘foreground’. This comes about naturally once our visual attention rests on the limits of the visual field instead of tracking on this or that object. It is easy for the attention to waver, however, so the focus on sounds must be augmented by mentally copying sounds just heard.

Small children learn to speak by mentally copying sounds, and there is reason to believe that animals do something similar. Mentally copying sounds and associating them with specific situations would seem to have been a major part of humanity’s pre-verbal thought processes.

Once we learn to speak, and to speak to ourselves, mental mimicry of sounds is relegated to a minor role and generally limited to copying sounds for which we have words. When we begin ‘thinking with the chest, ’ like Ochwiay Biano, our minds become quieter and we become aware of feelings and images for which we have no words, not because they are ineffable, but simply because no words have yet been assigned to those experiences. Consider smells, for instance. We have many words for colors and quite a few for sounds, but our olfactory vocabulary is very limited. If a dog could be taught to speak, he would find himself at a loss to describe the many odors in his daily experience. If he invented words for the many different odors, we would find it hard to understand him, lacking referents because we are purblind in our noses.

In the same way, this particular sound I have just heard has no precise word describing it. We can say, ‘that is the sound of a car engine, ’ as we say ‘that is a tree, ’ and ignore sensory detail in either case. Our everyday minds can deal with such thumbnail descriptions without having to disturb the selection of memories forming a background to our moment-to-moment synopsis. But if we mentally repeat the precise sound of that car that just went by, our memory background is rendered more porous, as it would become in a crisis, so that feelings and images from past memories are able to emerge.

I tried mentally echoing sounds just heard as an experiment in 1972, while walking along a busy street in Encanto, California. I was also keeping my sunglass frames in view, an earlier version of ‘standing in the doorway’. I did this for an hour or more, and recorded the results in a journal:

“The result of this double exercise was three full days, not counting sleep, in silent awareness of total sensation…At one point the feeling of lightness became like a breeze flowing through my body from back to front. Everything seemed to take on a bluish tinge…By the third day, the breeze had risen to a light wind and was blowing through my memories. My personal history, the sense of who I am, was being shuffled like a deck of cards…By the end of the third day the wind set me down somewhere else in myself; that is, my store of familiar memories was completely revised and my feeling of myself permanently changed from that point on.”

After this experience, my dead grandmother began visiting me regularly in my dreams. I noticed that in many of these dreams I appeared to be younger, and to feel as I did when she was still alive, but my understanding was linked to the present. It was common to realize at the time that I was dreaming, if not at first then as the dream progressed, for I would remember that she had died. These earlier feelings of myself, and of my grandmother when she was alive, enhanced a feeling of harmony with her and allowed us to converse in close intimacy. However, as I had no unresolved issues with her, there was nothing specific to work through. I usually asked her how she was, and she said fine, but she felt tired a lot, and this probably came from memories of her as she was towards the end of her life.

My practices of the threshold and hearth continued over the next several years, and long after my father died I did have some serious issues to work through with him. This took about three years to get through, during which time I was periodically out of work (I was doing contract programming and moving around a lot) . In both dream and waking I agreed with my father to resolve certain problems for good with him in exchange for obtaining help in finding employment. On each of three occasions, I received job offers within twenty-four hours of these conversations. Skeptics may make of this what they will; but taking the view that I was in contact with the spirits of my ancestors, it makes sense that they would find it easier to relate to me after I had recovered earlier feelings of myself and of them, which I had when, they were still alive.

The Pillar

Before chimneys came into general use in the Renaissance, the old-style hearth was usually located centrally under the smoke-hole in the roof, and the central supporting pillar or pillars were set close to it. The main pillar in pagan times corresponded to the World Pillar, round which the heavens appear to revolve and which links the Underworld, Middle-Earth, and the heavenly realms of the cosmos together. It also corresponds to the human spine, and the subtle passage therein known to yogis as the sushumna. An upright person has a straight spine and thus a direct link to the vigor of the ancestors. He or she can stand before the ancestors unashamed, with a record of honorable conduct.

In the old Roman religion, every man was born with a guiding spirit called his genius, and every woman a similar spirit called her juno. These were inner spirits, with a meaning originally connected in some way with sexual vigor, but later they became mixed with the Greek notion of a personal daimon who guided one through life. The connection of the genius with sleep and dream is suggested by the lectus genialis, located in the atrium just opposite the entrance-door. Rose conjectures that in the days of one-room houses it probably served as the marriage bed, hence its sexual significance; but in later times it persisted as a sacred furnishing that was reserved for the genius of the paterfamilias and never used by the house’s human occupants. Presumably the lady of the house had a similar place in the women’s quarters dedicated to her juno.

While we must do without a pillar in modern houses, we can set aside a special area in the home for meditation, and include a shrine to a personal guiding deity, giving external form to our indwelling genius or juno in the shape of an image if we prefer. A staff can be set up in a nearby corner to represent the pillar, perhaps with alternate red and white bands spiraling clockwise around it from the top to the bottom, like a Maypole. The main thing, of course, is to sit there with an erect spine, the seat being raised by one or two cushions.

If you offer to your patron or patroness (or directly to the genius or juno) as at the other shrines, ask for guidance or wisdom in both dreams and waking life. It is also good to do this before going to sleep. If you remember your dreams on awakening, take a few moments to ponder them and try to determine what the deity was saying to you. Even seemingly trivial dreams often contain a message if we take the time to examine them.

The Inner Pillar

As the World Pillar is the link between the realms of our cosmos and thus with the ancestors, so the inner pillar is our own personal link with them through memory. As we have seen, memory contains more than the record of events: Vesta at our inner hearth can recall past versions of ourselves, our feelings and impressions, our viewpoints, joys and fears, all the way back to birth, as well as that strange kind of nostalgia, with phantom images, associated with the distant past which we call far memory. Like the rings on a tree-trunk, these vital memories represent different stages of our growth-journey from the realm of the ancestors, and each is vitally available to the present moment.

It will come as no surprise, then, to learn that each man’s genius and each woman’s juno resides in the inner pillar of memory and has the job of guiding, not just our present selves, but each of these versions of ourselves, guiding all of them together. Thus, as Vesta calls back our previous selves and integrates them with our current self, the genius or juno shows us the path linking them, the plan our life has been following, and the living form of our self through time, of which our current self is the growing tip. For whereas the ancestors are concerned to help that growing tip, our current selves, with advice and vigor, our indwelling genius and juno are concerned with the growth of the whole plant, clear down to the roots. The journey down the inner pillar of memory, taken by the silent, inward-looking self, is not like a train-journey, which leaves behind each station as it travels to the next one. It is rather a projection of awareness from the present back through the past, uniting with the whole trunk of memory as it goes. As such, it is a preparation for the fuller integration that will take place in the Underworld after the death of the body.

In the Underworld the integrated soul will undergo further integration with its selves from previous lives. Thus, the answer to the question, “What age shall I be on the Other Side?” is “All ages to which you have attained.” This is expressed beautifully in the Lakota (Sioux) myth of Falling Star. It seems long ago there were two sisters who wished to marry stars when they grew up. Then, when they were about to go to bed, two men appeared outside the flap of their tepee:

“They were men, but they were not like other men, for they made the light they lived in, and there was no shadow where they stood. This light was soft and kind, and when the two men smiled, it spread about the sisters so that they were not afraid at all. Then they saw that one man was young and one was very old. The younger one was taller than any man the girls had ever seen; but the older one was even taller. I think he stood above the other like a tree, and the light which he made was that much brighter. He was old, old; but he was young too. I think he was older than the other because he had been young so much longer.”

Journeys down the inner pillar can take place in lucid dreams or in waking moments when inner silence begins to deepen on its own, spontaneously. The latter experience feels like being in an old elevator that has suddenly slipped its cable a little. There is a feeling of being lowered into deeper silence. Present sensations continue, but new senses open up, or perhaps feelings, for which we have no descriptions. These seem to be showing through the current landscape, if we are outside, that is. Time undergoes subtle changes as well, with the mind taking in more rapid details occurring, as it were, between successive instants of time. This continues until one has had enough and decides to re-surface into the everyday present.

Standing in the doorway and mentally echoing sounds just heard help to set up lucid dreaming. Additionally, after closing your eyes at night, instead of becoming immersed in thoughts, watch your phosphenes, the lights and shapes created by the pressure of the eyelids on the optic nerve. As we fall asleep, dream images will naturally become superimposed on our phosphenes; but if we fall asleep while watching instead of thinking, we shall watch the images in our dreams afterwards and be less caught up in the words of the dream-synopsis. When dream images become superimposed on phosphenes, it is like a door opening, and when it is fully open we are asleep and immersed in a dream. If we have watched our phosphenes change into dream-images, it is only a step further to realizing we are in a dream, when the journey down the inner pillar can commence.

Footnotes:
Bibliography

BERNSTEIN, Frances, Classical Living, San Francisco, Harper Collins, 2000.
ELIADE, Mircea, Shamanism; Archaic Techniques of Ecstasy, New Jersey,
Princeton University Press, 1964.
HARDING, Douglas, On Having No Head, London and New York, Arkana , 1986.
JUNG, C. G., Memories, Dreams, Reflections, New York, Vintage Books, 1963.
NEIHARDT, John G., When the Tree Flowered, New York, Pocket Books, 1974.
OVID, Fasti, transl. by A. J. Boyle and R. D. Woodard, New York, Penguin Books,
2000.
ROSE, H. J., Religion in Greece and Rome, New York, Harper and Rowe, 1959.

Earth Science Pic of the Day

Fiery Sunrise

Fierysunrise

 

Photographer: Mitch Englebrecht
Summary Author: Mitch Englebrecht; Jim Foster

 

The photo above showing a fiery sunup was captured near Colorado Springs, Colorado in late winter of 2008. Neither telephone poles nor wires could detract from this glowing dawn. The increased path-length of sunlight when the Sun is near the horizon, in the presence of mid and high altitude clouds, accounts for the vivid coloration of many sunrises and sunsets, including this one.

Daily Feng Shui Tip for October 31st

BOO! Did I scare you? Do bats? I thought this would be a perfect day to share some secret Shui about what bats can do for you! In this philosophy bats play a legendary role. They are considered auspicious symbols of happiness and longevity. This last part is because of a bat’s ability to swallow its own breath so that they then live a very long life. They are also said to symbolize wealth, prosperity, the ability to deflect illness or any causes of unnatural death. Positioned in groups of five they symbolize the five Feng Shui blessings for abundance and fulfillment and will bring opportunities for fortune, recognition and rewards. Forget about that proverbial belfry, a family of bats taking up residence in your home is considered an exceptionally auspicious omen that heralds immense good fortune and huge success for all the members of the household. Happy Halloween!

By Ellen Whitehurst for Astrology.com

Feng Shui Tip of the Day for Oct. 29

Feng Shui says that the elemental energy associated with the month of October comes from the energies accorded the element of Earth. This same energy or element is what we might call on to create a sense of stability, security and a strong sense of belonging. The earth grounds and roots you. It can balance and center you and keep you connected to the forces that feed you on so many different levels. Earth energies can be located directly in the center of your own space. Any time during this or any other month, whenever you feel a need to slow down and to feel more stability and support, position a yellow flowering plant in the middle of the main floor and immediately feel your feet on firmer terra firma. You also can use fresh yellow flowers to activate the energy of this cure, but a plant that you can nurture and love will breathe those same energies right back to you. Find your center, plant yourself there and get some super supportive stability growing just for you. After all, who deserves stability and support more than you?

By Ellen Whitehurst for Astrology.com

Meditation Thought for Saturday, October 29

Be A Rock Meditation

Sit quietly with closed eyes. Bring to mind a life form or other aspects of nature, such as a bird, tree, waterfall or rock. Become this thing in your imagination. Feel its presence, sense what its like to be in its body, to live its life. How is it being treated by humans? What does it require to thrive? What wisdom –and warning — does it have for us? Jot down the answers for reflection later on.

Feng Shui Tip of the Day for October 28

It’s ‘Lung Health Day’ so I immediately thought of the Feng Shui gold standard as far as intentional breathing and expanding lung capacity is concerned. The Chinese have long used meditation in partnership with Feng Shui to enhance their Chi, improve their lung health and to garner opportunities for a fortunate future. The Great Sunshine Buddha meditation promises to do all that and more. Standing with your feet shoulder width apart with palms and arms lifted in the air, turn your head upwards to face the sun. Imagine the sun emitting a ‘hum’ sound, one of the most sacred sounds known to man. Now imagine that same humming sun coming closer and getting hotter before it enters your body through the third eye or forehead area. The sun now rushes quickly through your body, filling and bathing it with heat and sound until it exits out of the bottom of your feet. Relax and then raise your arms and palms again. This time the sun and sound enter through both the third eye and the palms of each hand. It rushes to the feet where it quickly rebounds and returns to the head where it then exits. Relax your arms again. With arms and palms up, the sun and sound reenter the body through the three points and rushes down to the feet. Then it slowly rises, circling and heating and humming around all the vital organs as well as any problematic spots. Use the sound and the bright sunlight to cure health problems, push bad or negative Chi up and out and increase health and happiness. Repeat nine times each day for 27 days for maximum effect and opportunity.

By Ellen Whitehurst for Astrology.com

Feng Shui Tip of the Day for October 27th

Today’s ‘Cranky Co-workers Day’ could put a crimp in anyone’s office etiquette. After all, it’s hard to stay positive when your work colleagues are all kinds of negative. If you want to steer clear of drama then perhaps you need to know about a little co-worker cock-a-doodle do! Feng Shui says that placing an image or a statue of a rooster in the Fame area of your office space or on your desk will overcome office politics and bring backbiting to a halt. Taoist Feng Shui masters consider the red comb on the rooster’s head to be all-powerful. They also believe that the claws symbolize the ability to wipe out colleague crankiness and partisan politicking in favor of a more favorable work environment. An image of a rooster will work equally as well, but I like the idea of the rooster giving crankiness a little wake-up call.

By Ellen Whitehurst for Astrology.com

Feng Shui Tip of the Day for October 25th

Once upon a time a Feng Shui master taught me some ‘secret’ Shui that promised health, happiness and prosperity, as well as increased exposure, recognition and reward! Of course, many of the Feng Shui cures that I know promise to activate those same blessings and boons, but this particular adjustment is applicable only in the month of October. This somewhat secret Shui promises to potentially rocket your reputation to the stars and bring you as many personally and professionally rewards as there are bright and shiny orbs in the sky. The key is to place a yellow chrysanthemum in the Fame area during any day this month. I have since learned that the mum can be put into especially prime positioning anytime between the ninth and the fifteenth, and it has special powerful application on the latter date. I have always ascribed that putting those pale petals into the Fame arena at any time will bring recognition and rewards, but October energies support that intention in a big way. Just remember, this is considered to be ‘secret’ Shui, so mum’s the word!

By Ellen Whitehurst for Astrology.com

Gentle thoughts for Monday, October 24th

Gentle thoughts for today:

1. Birds of a feather flock together and crap on your car.
2. There’s always a lot to be thankful for if you take time to look for it. For example I am sitting here thinking how nice it is that wrinkles don’t hurt.
3. The sole purpose of a child’s middle name is so he can tell when he’s really in trouble.
4. If you can’t be kind, at least have the decency to be vague.
5. Don’t assume malice for what stupidity can explain.
6. A penny saved is a government oversight.
7. The real art of conversation is not only to say the right thing at the right time, but also to leave unsaid the wrong thing at the tempting moment.
8. If you can smile when things go wrong, you have someone in mind to blame.
9. The easiest way to find something lost around the house is to buy a replacement.
10. He who hesitates is probably right.
11. If you think there is good in everybody, you haven’t met everybody.
12. Did you ever notice: When you put the 2 words “The” and “IRS” together it spells “THEIRS”?

VJ FEMIA

OH MY AGING FUNNY BONE…

Group or Solitary: Which Is Best For You?

Group or Solitary: Which Is Best For You?

Author: Bronwen Forbes

One of the biggest and most important decisions you will make as a newcomer to the Pagan path is whether to join an existing group of like-minded practitioners or go it on your own as a solitary. Of course, there will be other big decisions to make later but they are all dependent upon what you choose to do now.

In the interest of full disclosure, I will confess that I am a big advocate of finding others who a) are further along the path than you and learning all you can from them and b) are folks your gut seems to trust (more on this in a future article, I promise) . Why? Let me give you an example.

At one time my group’s holiday rituals were open to any Pagans in the area who chose to attend (if they told us they were coming in advance) . Since our group was the only one and the first one in the area for some time, we attracted a lot of people who hadn’t ever been in ritual with other Pagans, even though they’d been solitaries for years.

A solitary came to one of our rituals, speaking to anyone who would listen about her “astral fiancé.” Apparently she’d met a man on the astral plane – but never in real life – and they planned to marry just as soon as she moved to Ireland and figured out which one of several million Irishmen he was. To further hinder her search, she didn’t know what his name was. At some point in the ritual they apparently got “married” (it was Beltane, after all!) because by the end of the evening she was referring to her “astral husband.” As an occasional writer of fiction, I wish I could make up stuff this good!

Does the idea of an anonymous “astral fiancé” sound a little farfetched? It sure did to us – especially when she quit her job, moved to Ireland, and (no surprise) never found him. Last we heard she was back in the States, flat broke, and living out of her car. If this woman had had some basic non-book training and/or regular contact with a group at the beginning of her Pagan studies, she’d have known better than to delude herself to the point of homelessness.

I’m not saying that every solitary Pagan is going to end up doing something profoundly stupid, spiritually-speaking, and end up living in a car, but just as you turn to a more experienced roadster when you’re learning how to drive that car, it makes just as much sense to find someone – preferably several someones – when you’re learning the Pagan basics. The book you study in order to pass the written driver’s test is good for learning the rules of the road, but you’re not going to get your license without a lot of supervised, hands-on experience. So it is with Paganism.

On the other hand, there are times and places and personalities that are better suited for solitary work. Perhaps you live too far away from the nearest group to make regular travel for rituals and classes impossible. Or maybe the local coven or grove sets off your “icky alarm” and you’d prefer to never be in their presence again, thank you very much. Or maybe your work life is too hectic and home life is too full of the needs of small children to be able to make a commitment to a group’s calendar.

Or maybe, just maybe, you are more suited to a spiritual life of quiet, private observance and contemplation and will, in fact, go farther on your Pagan path if you travel alone. I’ve met some fine people in my life for whom this is the case; I admire their personal dedication even though I can’t emulate it.

If it’s just my husband, my child and I in the house on a holiday or full moon, we’re not likely to have a formal ritual – much like my widowed mother-in-law who will cook up a storm if a few of her children or grandchildren are expected for dinner but “just can’t be bothered” to cook if she’s just feeding herself.

So how do you know if you’re more suited for a group or a solitary practice? Ask yourself the following questions. Your answers should tell you what decision you need to make to better your chances of a satisfying spiritual future.

Is there a group nearby that I like and trust? If the answers are “yes” (Yes there is a group, yes it is nearby, yes I like them, and yes I trust them) , and they have space for you, by all means petition to join. However, if there is even one “no” (There’s a group nearby but I don’t like them and wouldn’t trust them to teach me how to walk my dog, much less take an active role in my spiritual development) , you’re much better off on your own.

Do I have the personal discipline to actively practice on my own? I freely admit that I do not. I need to commit to a group and the group calendar to actively, integrally observe even the basic holidays and moon phases. And that’s okay – I’m not the only one!

However, if you can – or would even prefer to – make a personal commitment to make small observances to the Gods at this time every day (or week, or holiday) and know you’ll keep that commitment, then I say good for you! You have at least some of what it takes to be a solitary.

Am I willing to ask for help or a reality check from time to time? I don’t think it ever occurred to our above-mentioned Beltane guest to ask anyone online or in person if she was deluding herself or if her astral experiences were real. When my husband was first starting to study Paganism, he made a point of seeking out community elders and experienced practitioners at local Pagan festivals and asking them questions. Even though these good folk weren’t his formal teachers, they were more than happy to answer him.

If you join a group, your High Priest or High Priestess will provide help and reality checks – that’s their job. If you choose to go solitary, you should consider attending a nearby gathering, Pagan Pride Day, or workshop at a Pagan store once in a while just to touch base with the rest of the community. I’d hate for you to drop everything and move to Ireland if it’s all in your head.

Ultimately, only you can choose whether to join a group or strike out on your own at the beginning of your Pagan life. Only you know your geographical, work, family, and personal circumstances that will all factor into the decision.

Whichever way you choose, I wish you all the best. In some ways, we are all alone – the Path is different for each person who walks it; in other ways we are all part of this wonderful, awe-inspiring, sprawling Pagan community.

Feng Shui Tip of the Day for Oct. 22nd

According to the early Roman calendar, the name of the month of October translates to ‘eight,’ as October was the eighth month of the year. Embedded inside Eastern cultures and philosophies there is a symbol called the ‘Mystic Knot’ that is also closely associated with the number eight. This symbol, by pattern and design, resembles a series of interlocking eights all woven together into a seemingly eternal and never-ending pattern. This powerful Mystic Knot symbol can be used to activate or trigger energies that will manifest long lasting success, prosperity and riches, or even an everlasting and undying love. If you’re looking to increase your income, then place an image or picture of the Mystic Knot inside your ‘Wealth’ area. If, however, you’re looking to enhance an existing relationship, or even find your perfect partner, then place this loving symbol in the ‘Romance/Relationship’ area. Either way, you’re sure to see this symbol untangle any current complications that you might be experiencing with love or money while putting yourself behind the — what else? — eight ball!

Alchemy Prosperity Spell (Blood/Harvest Moon)

Gather together a sheet of green paper, a pen, a pinch of salt, a match, a thermometer with mercury, and a rubber band.

At midnight, draw a magick circle and call in the elemental powers. On the sheet of paper, draw an equilateral (equal-sided) triangle. Write the word Mercury above the top point of the triangle. Write the word Sulfur next to the right point of the triangle, and write the word Salt next to the left point. Put the salt, match (unlit) and thermometer on top of the triangle. Fold the paper in half, and then roll it up ( salt, match, and thermometer included) into a scroll. Secure the rolled scroll with the rubber band. Hold the scroll in your power hand and say three times:

“At this midnight, moonlight hour

By the alchemy of salt, sulfur, and mercury

Please bring me prosperity, blessed be!”

Brainstorm for at least thirty minutes as to how you can draw more prosperity into your life. Allow the magician within to come out and wave her or his wand to financial success. In your journal, write how you can blend magick with directed thought and action to manifest your goals. Remember to give yourself plenty of time than you think. Things that seem improbable or impossible just take a little bit long yet. When you are finished, bid farewell to the Elements and pull up the circle. Put the scroll on your altar for a moon cycle to draw prosperity to you.

Today’s Feng Shui Tip For Thursday, October 20

Today celebrates ‘Miss American Rose Day,’ a day dedicated to a pageant that honors high achievements and community service for girls and women of all ages. On this day we are asked to treat all of the women in our lives like beautiful American roses and to perform some sort of community service project. So what if you want to use American roses to start your own Miss American Rose Day celebration? Take two pink, long-stemmed roses and remove the thorns from the stems. Put them in a single white ceramic or clear glass or crystal vase, and then place that vase on your bedside table or nightstand. Each night before heading off to sleep, visualize what life with your perfect partner will look like. After three days, replace the original two roses with two new fresh pink ones. Leave this second set in the vase for three consecutive days while visualizing at night. After the second three days, again replace the two roses and leave this last duo in the vase for three more consecutive days. When you’ve completed this cure you should have had a pair of pink roses by your bedside for nine successive days straight. Before long sweet smelling florals won’t be the only thing right next to you in bed!

By Ellen Whitehurst for Astrology.com

Daily Motivator for October 18th – Achievement is built

Achievement is built

Achievement is built on challenge. Achievement is built on setbacks and frustrations.

Achievement is built when conditions are difficult. Achievement is built when the direction of the economy is uncertain, and when there’s no guarantee of success.

And achievement is indeed built, for it is not inevitable. Achievement happens because people choose to make it happen.

Achievement is built on meaningful intention, with devotion, persistent action and plain old hard work. Achievement is built on the desire to make a difference, and on the commitment to fulfill that desire no matter what.

Yes, of course there are obstacles, excuses, distractions, frustrations and disappointments that push back against achievement. Achievement is built anyway, and the world is a richer, more promising place because of it.

Achievement is built by giving the best of your focus and your efforts to each moment. And as you build it, achievement builds you.

— Ralph Marston

Daily Zen Meditation for Tuesday, October 18th

New Age Comments & Graphics

Rather than break my vow to plum blossoms
I have settled here in this disheveled hut
Grey sleet seeps through briars at my window
Plumes of snow dance around its papered panes

Steep scarps loom above frozen woods
Deep clouds conceal the pool’s icy stones
Such weather; I stoke up a few charcoal twigs
Wish for a way south, to Chiang-nan’s shore.

– Shih-shu (17th c-early 18th)

 ~Magickal Graphics~